Method of mounting ambbotypes



.use for putting up ambrotypes or other pic- UNITED sTATEs EATENT o'FEicE.

JOHN S. MCCLURE, OF MOBILE, ALABAMA.

METHOD OF MOUNTING AMBROTYPES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,977, dated November 1, 1859.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN S. MCCLURE, of the city of Mobile, in the county of Mobile and State of Alabama, have invented a new and Improved Method of Putting Up Ambrotypes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, represents a face-view of an ambrotype put up according to my invention. Fig. 2, is a transverse vertical section of same.

Similar letters of reference in the two views indicate corresponding parts.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents the case or frame which I tures taken on a vtransparent surface, and the'picture B is taken in the usual manner, the front-glass a being coated with collodion, and exposed to the influence of the light in the usual camera obscura, and the picture itself is protected by a second glass plate b, which is covered with some dark substance, such as black sealing wax or black varnish just as far as the picture goes, so that all that portion of the two glasses beyond the picture remains transparent. The picture is secured between the usual frame C of thin sheet brass, which is pressed or raised so as to have an ornamental appear'- ance and which leaves an oval or any other shaped opening o for the picture. This opening is considerably laro'er than the picture all around, as it wouldb not give a good effect to bring the frame too close up to the same, and behind the picture and secured to a concave surface D is the back-ground (Z, namely a landscape or some other appropriate design drawn in perspective on a piece of paper which is fastened to the surface D with some suitable cement. The case or frame A must be deep enough so as to give room for the concave surface D, which can be made by bending a piece of sheet metal up at the edges and by depressing its center so that it assumes a form as clearly represented in Fig. 2. I do not confine myself, however, to any particular method or material of constructing this background, as the same can be made in various ways and of different material without altering the eect. By thus making the background concave the effect of the picture is materially enhanced, as it makes the same appear as if standing out from the background, while pictures, with the background fastened in the ordinary way, look as if standing flat with the same, so that the eifect of the picture is rather impaired by having such a back-ground, than otherwise.

I do not claim the taking of photographs, ambrotypes, and other pictures upon curved or concaved plates or glasses; nor do I claim, broadly, the placing of the picture at a distance from the back-ground. But

Having described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

The employment of a concave background or surface D, in combination with an ambrotype picture, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

JOHN S. MCCLURE.

Vitnesses:

G. A. CLEVELAND, C. C. NEALLY. 

